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Agricultural Trade, Policy Reforms, and Global Food Security pp 19–38Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

How Trade Can Boost Food Security

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Abstract

Openness of each national economy to international trade and investment optimizes the use of resources devoted to producing the world’s food, maximizes real incomes globally, and minimizes fluctuations in international food prices and quantities traded. It thereby contributes to three components of food security: availability, access, and market stability. It should therefore be considered among the food policy options of national governments, as it can reduce poverty, hunger, and under-nutrition; boost diet diversity, food quality, and food safety; and thus boost national and global food security. These gains derive not just from the fact that openness enables citizens to consume more of everything, including food, but also from the fact that openness to trade can raise an economy’s growth rate.

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  1. Department of Economics, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Kym Anderson

  2. Arndt-Corden Department of Economics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Kym Anderson

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Anderson, K. (2016). How Trade Can Boost Food Security. In: Agricultural Trade, Policy Reforms, and Global Food Security. Palgrave Studies in Agricultural Economics and Food Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46925-0_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46925-0_2

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